Friends of the Manchester Library

Meeting Minutes for July 26, 2006

 

Attending: N. Brady, J. Brummond, C. Campbell, D. D’Haem, J. Guariz, M. Guariz, B. Lounsbery, P. Nolan, P. Paquette, R. Pardo, G. Weixler, R. Weixler, John Winslow

 

Action Items:

  1. Julie: finish and print a newsletter, to include ‘special friend’ news
  2. Julie: prepare the first ‘special friend’ write up and picture for the plaque
  3. Julie and Sam: take the bags of garden weeds to Norma’s
  4. Carol: email salmon bake pictures to Julie, and leave the CD of pictures at the library in the mail box.
  5. Norma: send Les Johnson a thank you note for his work on the penny jar.
  6. All: At August meeting, schedule workers for the MCA fair 8/26, and consider funding or donations for ice cream and root beer
  7. Carol: coordinate with Dee, and buy the root beer and ice cream for the MCA fair
  8. John: Contact the Port about library parking spots and clarification on signage and towing calls responsibility
  9. Joe: repair the bubble in the carpet  (materials have been acquired)
  10. Carol and Gigi: procure willow or bamboo fencing to disguise the air conditioner;
  11. Ron: continue development of trifold brochure for donation packages, to advertise the need for funds
  12. Eric/Terry Bow: Terry has some pieces of metal; two sections of the barbecue shrouding need replacing; he will bring them & see if they work
  13. John: schedule a strategic planning session, probably in October
  14. Joe: Procure big labels for donor recognition board, and consider a label maker for the individual names’ boards.
  15. Joe: Continue research on a metal storage unit
  16. All: continue to look for a handyman-on-call

 

The meeting was called to order by President Winslow at 7:00 pm.  Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as written, once the date is corrected.

 

Correspondence: none

 

Treasurer’s report: The Salmon Bake profit has been allocated to the Building Fund asset. Discussion followed about the best place to keep the Building Fund. The treasurer was authorized to put the Building Fund into the highest-interest-bearing instrument available, subject to keeping the funds available for preliminary expenses, at his discretion, and all interest from that account will accrue to the Building Fund. Routine expenses are at 54% of annual budget, income is at 98% of budget (58% of year). The $35 bad check (from the plant sale) has not been made good.

 

Branch Manager’s report: Will be attached to the final minutes.

 

Penny Jar report: A new penny jar has been installed, bolted down and surrounded by a wood frame. Norma will send Les Johnson a thank you for his help installing the box. Lauri’s daughter was inspired to donate all the change she found when cleaning her room. It was agreed this might make a good human interest point for a news story, and generate publicity about the penny jar being back in business.

 

Bookstore report: Sales and donations continue strong. We continue to have to discard or re-donate duplicates or un-sellable books, but the net result is fine.

 

Newsletter report: The newsletter should be finished shortly.

 

Facilities Manager Report: Annual furnace maintenance is due: Joe will contact Quality Heating. Gigi will water at the library if needed, while Carol is out of town. Joe researched metal storage boxes; a 10x20 would be a good size, and would cost from $1500-$1800. There was concern about its appearance, and it was suggested that community children design and paint a mural if we install it. Because it would be “portable”, no permits or foundation would be needed, just a base of railroad ties or other timbers. The matter was tabled for further research and consideration. The electrical work to repair lighting circuits/fixtures needs to be completed by fall.

 

Old Business: Closed action items from the 6/28 meeting (items not finished are under current action items):

  1. Carol: contact Rich about keeping the cash box emptied frequently (done)
  2. Gigi: procure “event sponsored by” banners once the logo is developed. (done)
  3. Ray: acquire a “special friend” plaque, as per sketch and amendment to wording; (done)
  4. Joe: contact woodworker about constructing a donor recognition board with slots for changeable names (Joe and Margaret built a spectacular recognition board)
  5. Carol and Joe: acquire a replacement plexiglas box for the Penny Jar at the restaurant; (done)
  6. Carol: contact Rich about the $35 bad check from the plant sale: was it paid? no
  7. John: have Jeff Donaldson contact Lauri about the penny jar theft; publicity There was a story in the paper about it.

 

Salmon Bake: The event went well, and made more than the last two years combined.

Village Commons Status:  The group meets regularly; minutes are on the MCC web site. Joe expressed concern about FOML putting its seal of approval on the grand scheme for a community center with several different players and interests, when our charter is purely for the library’s support. There are many agendas being discussed in the Commons’ group. John reported that nothing will move quickly so we can watch as the project begins to unfold. There is concern about who would own a community center, and the greatly increased cost of operations for such a building.

Donor Recognition: John presented a “Leave a Legacy” brochure for consideration. Radas have developed a draft package for the donor program. Joe and Margaret have built a beautiful donor recognition board, with movable name plates. Still needed are the major label plates, and a way to label each name plate as donors give money to FOML at the different levels.

Water District policy: John presented the water district’s new policy for putting statements on their billings and publications; this came out of our getting the Salmon Bake “ad” on the bills this spring, and we should be able to do this again.

New Business: 

MCA Street Fair:  Will be August 26. It was approved to pay MCA for two booths; FOML to sell root beer floats and children’s books, and the library will have a booth. MCA may borrow tables and chairs that we are not using, and canopies (not the EZ-Ups). Norma and the Postmistress will be doing a stamp display in the meeting room that day.

Plant sale: Norma announced that Joan will chair the plant sale and Peggy will co-chair. Workers will be needed through the year to acquire plants from various gardens. Norma will continue to work on it as well. Norma’s many years of hard work on the plant sale are very much appreciated!

Seniors making art: Dee announced that this program will take place, and when it is scheduled John will coordinate some publicity.

Parking lot signage: After a truck/trailer towing incident, there was discussion of who “owns” the parking stalls across from the library, and who is responsible for calling the tow trucks when necessary. John will contact the Port to request mutual clarification on which spots are the library’s and what signage would be appropriate.

 

Information: The KRL July board meeting will be in Manchester; we are invited and encouraged to attend. July 27th,. 6 pm

 

Next meeting: The next regular meeting will be held on Wednesday August 23 at 7:00PM in the Library meeting room.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Carol Campbell, Secretary